#dark tranquillity

Well, I have news:

This is my collection! (< Read in the tone of that one Kamelot line, "But this is my confession!" XD)

Bands: in alphabetical order, CDs - mostly in order of release of the album (reissues don't count) - except the compilations Decades and Where I Reign for... reasons

Unleashed: Across the Open Sea (1993)

No one really knew how Stockholm's Unleashed would fit into the already congested 1990s Swedish death metal scene when they debuted with '91's Where No Life Dwells, and, chances are, neither did they!

But this had changed by the group's third long-player, '93's Across the Open Sea ...

While peers like Entombed and Dismember were embracing buzzsaw guitars and complex structures, and the Gothenburg School mixed melodies with progressive experiments, Unleashed found their groove -- literally -- in straightforward arrangements and driving, catchy, almighty riffs.

As for their lyrics, Unleashed largely rejected death metal's focus on demons, horror, and gore to join a smaller but growing, wide-ranging Viking metal contingent that included Sweden's own elder statesmen, Bathory, and rising Norwegian black metal legends Enslaved, among others.

Said themes invade marauding opener "To Asgaard We Fly" (**), the monstrously-riffed "In the Northern Lands," merciless "Execute Them All," and even the instrumental title track, which breaks up the album's metallic onslaught with eerie keyboards and mournful acoustic guitars.

But they don't pervade every song, making way for religious irony ("I Am God"), mental instability ("The One Insane"), apocalyptic visions ("Forever Goodbye (2045)"), and WWII ("The General") -- plus a surprising death metal cover of Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law."

Also, to be honest, Johnny Hedlund's lyrics were only half as interesting as his fearsome growl, Fredrik Lindgren and Tomas Olsson's crunchy power chords, and Anders Schultz's spare but meaty percussive foundation -- a welcome anomaly in a genre known for exceedingly busy drummers.

In other words, like most Unleashed LPs, Across the Open Sea was largely conceived to buck the most prevalent trends of the Swedish and even the Tampa, FL death metal scenes (centered on Sunlight and Morrisound studios, respectively), not only compositionally but especially from a production standpoint.

That's why it's so ironic that, today, Unleashed are frequently criticized for their simplicity instead of being hailed for resisting the prevalent sounds and clichés found in '90s death metal.

As Hedlund told reporters back in '93, "We specifically wrote the music to come across well during live performances [and] to set Unleashed apart from all the Swedish bands who have their records produced at the Sunlight studio."

The band would double down on their guiding principles for their next opus -- and one of my personal favorites -- '95's Victory; but not before taking their death-defying Viking metal on the road with Morgoth, Tiamat, and Samael in Europe (***) and Cannibal Corpse and Hypocrisy in North America.

* I spent years waiting for a vinyl reissue of Across the Open Sea boasting the original CD cover art, with its Viking longship (see above), but I finally settled for the acceptable composite image of this 2023 pressing instead.

** One of the rare instances where Unleashed incorporated their native Swedish tongue among their English lyrics.

*** Oh, what I would give to have witnessed this line-up!

Wednesday, January 28: Dark Tranquillity, "Feast of Burden"

Dark Traquillity - The Gallery - 1995

narrowly avoiding every crisis,

you’re mindless.

knowing you’re putting it on..

———————————————————————

Do you ever feel like you’re a wandering spirit?

like your soul doesn’t really inhabit your body?

like your mind keeps drifting..

drifting up, up, up to the stars and beyond, reaching your hand out and feeling the stardust glide over your fingertips..

drifting down, down, down to the core of the earth, feeing the intensity of the heat scraping at your flesh as fire and earth dance together..

drifting through massive caves, filled with turquoise lakes and decorated with patches of luminescent moss..

drifting deep, deep underwater to the unknown places to man..

drifting in and out of this world..

this reality

drifting in and out

searching for your place

when you don’t feel your place is in your body

down, down, down, on earth.

when you feel your place is in the clouds

when you feel your place is underwater

when you feel your place is..

somewhere between reality and a dream.

am I insane to think of such things?

it all comes so naturally…

…

sometimes, at night when I can’t sleep, I open my window and there’s a big ledge that you can safely walk on (my dad has done it before) and I climb out my window, lay on my back on the roof, and look up at the night sky.

it’s beautiful, isn’t it?

I used to go out a lot on my roof, for the stars have been my place of comfort for those hard nights.

I would stare up at them, wishing to know what they were whispering about.

twinkling to each other, sharing secrets in a language that only they can understand.

oh, how I wish I could join them!

floating among them all,

knowing my place

instead of just floating up to them,

and then having to drift back down to earth.

but I’m grateful for it.

I’m grateful how I can take a little break from reality,

and just lay on my roof and look up at the stars

breathing in the cool night air,

until my breathing calms down.

until I feel tranquility.

until I can finally feel

that I’m where I’m meant to be